UFC 153's Rick Story willing to take 14-hour flight for chance to face Demian Maia

As soon as onetime middleweight title challenger Demian Maia announced he was headed to welterweight, Rick Story wanted to fight him.

“I just think it’s another opportunity for me to catapult myself back to the top rankings,” Story today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

Story (14-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) gets his wish when he faces Maia (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) on the first pay-per-view bout of UFC 153, which takes place Oct. 13 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

Rebuilding is a top priority for Story following a two-fight skid that cost him a spot in the welterweight division’s upper echelon. Decision losses to Charlie Brenneman and now-contender Martin Kampmann snapped a six-fight win streak he earned following a loss to John Hathaway in his UFC debut three years ago.

Story isn’t keen on fighting outside the U.S., where dietary options and weight cuts can play havoc on a fighter’s readiness, and he’s all too aware that Brazilian native Maia could be favored if the fight goes to the scorecards. But still, the matchup is a good reason to hop on a plane.

“I like the fact that I have the opportunity … to get more exposure,” Story said.

Since a now-infamous loss to middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 112, Maia is 4-2 inside the octagon. In his most recent appearance, the decorated submission grappler dropped to 170 pounds for a fight with standout Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 148. Less than a minute into the fight, Kim sustained a fight-ending injury, and Maia was ruled the winner.

Despite a long list of achievements in jiu-jitsu, Maia no longer relies on his grappling prowess to fight opponents. He has traded punches and kicks with top-tier fighters such as Chris Weidman, Mark Munoz and Jorge Santiago and held his own.

Maia’s progress has even impressed Story, who honed his wrestling chops at Southern Oregon University.

“It’s constantly improving,” Story said. “He’s getting more flash knockdowns every fight, and it’s definitely something that I have to be aware of. I respect his hands, too. You can’t get hit, or else I might suffer the consequences.”

The two have largely stayed away from any sort of trash talk leading into the fight, but Story said he won’t have any problem getting in Maia’s face when the two meet inside the cage.

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